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Racing By the Seat of Your Pants

By Jenée Cline

NASCAR SimRacing is the most authentic and realistic simulation racing video game ever created. Some of our most hard-core community members agreed -- this PC version of NASCAR is indeed far superior to any other. Of course, it can?t completely replace being in the driver's seat at Daytona, but it sure does come close. Our community leaders were just as competitive while testing NASCAR SimRacing as they were on the GO KART tracks in Redwood Shores, CA during the NASCAR SimRacing Community Day. They take sim racing seriously -- so watch out, Dale Earnhardt Jr., because these guys are coming after you on their PCs.

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?There is nothing that can replace exactly the seat-of-the-pants feel that you have, like when you have the feeling of the car moving around beneath you,? said Randy Magruder of Tampa, FL, long time game reviewer and hard-core sim racer. There may not be that ?seat of the pants? feel, according to Magruder, but once you flip the switch in your head to pick up other visual and environmental cues, you?ll feel as though you truly are on the track in Talladega when you play NASCAR SimRacing.

With the potential to race against a field of 43 players online, this one is not likely to make its way back to your shelf after a few months. After having the opportunity to play with James Hawkins, Senior Producer of NASCAR SimRacing, and some other testers online, Magruder was sold on the online capabilities of this year?s game.

?It?s always an amazing experience of driving online when you have several cars that are driving with each other, nose to tail, and everybody can sort of trust each other and take care of each other while they?re still racing really hard. That makes for really memorable races, and I think that?s really been nailed in the online component, which is really important,? said Magruder, in between testing and Go KART racing, which were just a few of the Community Day activities.

In addition to the extraordinary gameplay generated by the completely new physics engine of the game, the graphics of NASCAR SimRacing are getting rave reviews. Community leader Tom Sullivan of Central Wisconsin unquestioningly said his favorite feature of the game is ?the eye-candy. Visually it?s incredible.?

Physics, eye-candy, online play -- whatever it is that is most appealing to your senses and makes a sim racing game authentic, NASCAR SimRacing has it.

Here are more thoughts from community leader Randy Magruder:
What have you noticed as the best feature in the game, so far?
?[James Hawkins] said they rewrote the driving physics from scratch and I think it?s pretty clear that they have. There is a very different feel to it. It?s far superior than what we?ve had in the past from EA or any other companies. It seems like they?ve pretty much nailed it.?

Besides the Driving engine, what about the gameplay experience really makes this game more real?
?The graphics are incredible this year, there?s no doubt about it, especially if you have the hardware to really take advantage of it. This year they are extremely sharp, extremely high res and it really contributes to a good feeling of you being there. That?s really good."

Do you think the realism is as authentic as it is said to be?
?There isn?t any seat of the pants feel. You have to make up for it with visual cues and audio cues. Your brain kind of has to rewire itself to learn how to pick up messages from what the game is saying, and that?s not a process that?s particularly automatic. A lot of people that pick up a hard core sim will get frustrated with it very quickly. I think that it really pays off when you start to spend time with it. Your brain starts to learn what visual cues to pay attention to, what it sounds like when you?re starting to slide, what the camera is going to do when it starts to slide, you begin to start to feel the car and feel what it?s doing, and then you can really begin to appreciate the physics engine.?